A Maryland boy was suspended from school for 10 days last December for telling other students that he wished he’d had a gun to protect the students who were killed in the Sandy Hook massacre. The suspension was later reduced to one day.

In a radio interview, Bruce Henkelman, the boy’s father, claimed that a school bus driver overheard the boy use the word “gun” and then took him to the principle. The boy was then questioned by both the principle and a Sherriff’s deputy.

Henkelman said that the school’s principal, Darrel Prioleau, told him that “[W]ith what happened at Sandy Hook, if you say the word ‘gun’ in my school, you are going to get suspended for 10 days.”